Well sometimes you spend hours and hours looking for something and it is right under your nose. After driving myself up the wall trying to find a point of entry into the playtext, scribbling endlessly on scraps of paper and staring vacantly at the monitor – I realized that this was pretty much what I needed by way of a point of entry.
With all the inward looking on this text – I thought it only natural to write the play as a meta-narrative – with two writers engaged in the process of writing.
The text scrambled into existence fairly quickly and is being speedily eased into performance. I don't want to say too much at this point – since I'm in rehearsal and am discovering the text anew. Also, I really think a play should speak for itself!
What I will say is that I've managed a satisfying positioning of the Vikram and Betal idea that is immediate and relevant. I view these two characters as a single parasitic entity – one cannot exist without the other. This formlessness manifests dramatically as an inability to say for certain who is who, within the course of the play. Additionally the duo find themselves rooted in contemporary Bangalore – a city reeling under a period of rapid growth and development - a 'cosmopolitan city' that is clearly split down the middle – with a cultural rift that is steadily widening.
I've used a very simple linguistic approach to the play – that of counterpoint and contrast – positioning differing 'linguistic genres' to create tension and dramatic movement. The language of nostalgia slams into the lingo of online pornography – the description of an exorcism ritual, slams into the voice of the cyber stalker – orkut meets Amar Chitra Katha – a cold rational voice is set off against the obsessive-compulsive online addict.
I think what really crystallized this play for me was an incident on October 2nd. I was on my way to rehearsal and was caught up in traffic. I was on my Kinetic and realized the jam was caused by a fight that had broken out on Castle Street, diagonally opposite Brigade Towers and Globe Stores. A couple of guys were slugging it out – and the visual was immediately recognizable – a local South gang versus two Northy guys on two-wheelers. It was a pretty dumb fight – punches, scuffles, some filmi kicks and a helmet being swung into someones head. A cop was standing right opposite, very deliberately turning his back and suddenly very diligently directing traffic. And I really wasn't amused by this circus – with Kannada and Hindi expletives being flung at each other. And I took the typical apathetic middle class route – got past the jam and got the hell out of there and on my way.
I'm not an expert. I'm not one to pass quick judgment, but I think this incident pretty accurately describes what Bangalore is going through right now. And I think the text responds to this situation dialogically – placing a nostalgic 80s Bangalore voice against a rabid 21st century Bangalore voice.
I also hope that the play explores the futility of both positions – of retrogressive xenophobia and the other of glowing 'development propaganda'. The futility of saying – "Who are all these people screwing up my city?" – and "Welcome to Bangalore the world class global hub."
There's loads more – a mixture of two distinct dramaturgical styles that takes the technique of counterpoint up to the level of a formal experiment, the use of metaphor and symbolism – but I'll leave all this for the actual play to do, for poetry is that which escapes the paraphrase.
I do invite all of you in Bangalore to come see the show.
8 comments:
Well.. so i happened to watch your play. Liked the kind of symbolism you used to put your ideas through but it was bit confusing until i read this blog entry and i'm glad i was in the right direction of thinking :) Good one, keep it up!
http://matkahtml.blogspot.com/2007/10/creepers-play-about-bangalore-city-and.html
BTW i just wrote this on "Creepers"; you may want to see
awesome play man !! loved it !! really well thought about and very nice abstraction !
are u from bishop cotton's?
thanks matka/html and ayush. glad you enjoyed the show. this was the experimental production - we open again in a month or so, at full throttle.
many people were grappling with the 'abstractions' and i think that is a great sign! but from my side - i think we need to iron out any confusing elements to allow for the abstractions to be presented with absolute purity. thanks for the feedback.
trauma queen - yep. im a josephite-cottonian.
um... after-thought, the play is titled 'Creeper' - singular
ram.. it took us quite sometime to understand the link between the first half where the two actors are fighting for narrating the story. Many could not relate what the girl was talking about(about the trees, some temple and blah blah); IMO a lot can be improved on her character and things she talks about. Guy's character was really funny and entertaining so i would say it should remain the same.. those lines "Oyee maa soroswati.." were really funny!!! :)
about the second half, it made us think why dialogues were continuously being repeated without any change in the stage. probably lights on-off could be used to mark boundaries in the timeline.. the body language in the second half was too much, i loved that part the most.. keep going, i would look forward for the final production..
hey. thanks again for the feedback.
at this point, i must say that we will be looking to enhance the theatrical experience of the show. but to be honest i think isolating and judging the merit of specific elements of the production based on how 'funny' or 'popular' or 'easy' they are, is not something i believe in.
i believe that my theatre, is one where the audience is an active participant in the creation of meaning and not passive consumers of content. in that sense im glad the second half made you think - which means our production is bang-on, as far as that objective is concerned. really happy to see you actively engaging with this piece.
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